The 2022 Republican nominee for Illinois attorney general, downstate lawyer Thomas DeVore, will have his law license suspended for 60 days for various infractions, including having a sexual relationship with a client whom he represented in challenging Gov. JB Pritzker’s COVID-19 restrictions in 2020.
The Illinois Supreme Court, which regulates the legal profession in the state, ordered the suspension Friday based on the April recommendation of a disciplinary hearing board. It will take effect Oct. 10 and is scheduled to end Dec. 9.
The suspension was issued because DeVore “engaged in a sexual relationship with a client and entered into a business transaction with the same client without providing her with the terms of the transaction in writing and advising her that she was entitled to consult independent counsel,” according to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. “He also filed frivolous litigation against the client after their relationship ended, sent disparaging emails to her, and contacted her knowing she was represented by counsel.”
DeVore, who told the Tribune in April that he wouldn’t appeal the hearing board’s recommendation, responded to a phone call Wednesday seeking comment on the suspension with a text message, writing: “As we have seen in the last five to six years, there are risks associated with taking on certain fights. Sometimes when individuals take certain actions, he or she can become a target for those who are dissatisfied with those actions. As for me, I’ll continue to do the right thing when my conscience tells me not to succumb to bullies or blackmailers. I’ll gladly take the arrows so others don’t.”
As he gained notoriety for spearheading legal fights over pandemic mandates before his unsuccessful run for attorney general, DeVore began dating a married Springfield salon owner shortly after sending letters challenging the pandemic mandates to government agencies on her behalf in May 2020, according to the hearing board’s report.
The two began a sexual relationship sometime that June, though the exact date was disputed in testimony before the board late last year.
DeVore, who also represented Darren Bailey at one time and ran alongside the gubernatorial nominee in 2022 on the GOP ticket, has remained active in Illinois Republican politics. He argued the sexual relationship with Riley Craig began after his initial work for Craig ended and before his work representing her in other legal matters began. But the hearing board found evidence showing “an unbroken continuation of his attorney-client relationship,” including DeVore preparing pleadings in Craig’s divorce case filed by a law firm associate.
In its report, the board said DeVore showed “genuine remorse for and insights gained from his misconduct” and “total cooperation with this disciplinary proceeding,” adding that “four witnesses, including an attorney and a judge, gave compelling testimony about (his) character for truthfulness and respected reputation in the community.”
The report indicates the disciplinary commission began looking into DeVore’s conduct in 2021, but Craig, at the time, “reported that she was not (his) client when their sexual relationship began.”
While the report noted Craig displayed “an admitted willingness to act in furtherance of her own interests” and “threatened to change her story to the ARDC to cause (DeVore) to lose his law license,” the board nevertheless found there was “clear and convincing evidence” to prove their sexual relationship began after their attorney-client relationship.
The hearing board also found DeVore in 2021 helped Craig launch a hair care product business but failed to put proper legal safeguards in place.
DeVore and Craig entered into an operating agreement and took out $600,000 in loans for the business. However, the hearing board found DeVore was at fault for not informing Craig of her right to retain independent counsel and that Craig never gave “written informed consent to the transaction’s essential terms and the lawyer’s role in the transaction.” Both are safeguards required when a lawyer enters into a business transaction with a client.
The romantic relationship between DeVore and Craig had ended in early 2023, months after he lost the attorney general’s race to incumbent Democrat Kwame Raoul. That spring, the business venture with Craig also was failing, and she filed for bankruptcy.
The board found DeVore violated a state Supreme Court rule prohibiting attorneys “from engaging in conduct, while representing a client, that has no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, burden, or delay a third party” by sending an email to one of the company’s vendors a day after Craig filed for bankruptcy in which he referred to her as “a petulant child who has no idea what to say or do.”
Despite a court-ordered stay stemming from the bankruptcy case, DeVore filed a lawsuit against Craig, seeking to dissolve their company, which the hearing board found violated a rule barring attorneys from bringing frivolous actions.
DeVore also violated other rules by directly contacting Craig about her bankruptcy case, even though she was then represented by another attorney. He also engaged in conduct that was “prejudicial to the administration of justice,” including taking actions that led the bankruptcy judge to issue sanctions against him, the hearing board said.